MEDFORD - A northern Wisconsin sheriff's deputy suspended for sharing cold case homicide files with a TV show is being ordered back to work — to perform maintenance.

In a move the state police union says is unprecedented and “exceedingly personal,” Steve Bowers has been told to report next month in jeans and a T-shirt to do projects as assigned by Taylor County’s maintenance director.

Bowers is facing a criminal charge and has been on paid administrative leave since February as part of a departmental dispute that began when he shared case files of an unsolved murder with visiting law enforcement professionals working for the “Cold Justice” TV show.

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the boss who suspended Bowers, Taylor County Sheriff Bruce Daniels, for potentially violating the law by hacking Bowers’ personal Dropbox online-documents account while investigating the shared files.

Bowers — who said he was just trying to solve the cases — was suspended for three months, double demoted from sergeant to deputy and charged in October with felony misconduct in office. He has been on paid administrative leave since February, when his suspension ended.

But Sheriff Daniels sent a letter to Bowers on Wednesday ordering him to return to work for the county, but without his uniform or police powers. Daniels said in the letter he is making the order in consultation with the county’s Personnel Committee — which previously reduced Bowers’ punishment to a suspension after Daniels sought to fire him.

“It’s another effort to embarrass me, ruin my reputation and just be vindictive,” said Bowers, who has worked for the department more than 20 years. “It’s another attempt at punishing me further without having just cause.”

Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said the union has never heard of such an order.

“Taylor County's decision to assign Deputy Bowers maintenance duties is not something we have seen before in our many years of statewide experience in dealing with similar matters,” Palmer wrote in an email Thursday to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “At this time, we are exploring the legal avenues that may be available to us to address what appears to be a situation that has turned exceedingly personal in a unique and unfortunate way.”

Bowers is ordered to report to the maintenance director beginning June 4, and “may be assigned duties with another department” if there’s not enough maintenance work to fill his time. He will be paid his deputy pay rate and must still coordinate leave time through the sheriff’s department.

Daniels, who is not running for reelection this fall, did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

Taylor County Sheriff Bruce Daniels(Photo: LinkedIn)

The letter said the decision comes because the county has been given no indication when the criminal case against Bowers will conclude. The case, prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s Office, was filed seven months ago in October. Bowers made an initial court appearance in December, and a preliminary hearing has been pushed back to June 27. A judge will decide then if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison.

Bowers said he remains stunned at the penalties he has faced for what he says was a simple attempt to gain expert insight on the unsolved murders from 2006 and 2008. Daniels had assigned Bowers to work with "Cold Justice" when they came to shoot an episode on a different cold case in February 2017.

Bowers said he discussed the other cold cases with the former prosecutor and detective who starred in the show and didn’t see the harm in sharing other case files when they asked. Steve Spingola, the former Milwaukee homicide detective who serves as a lead investigator on the show, said nearly every agency they worked with has discussed and provided documents on other cold cases while filming the show.

Sheriff Daniels and Taylor County District Attorney Kristi Tlusty said at a disciplinary hearing for Bowers in October that they objected to his release of the files because those cases had not been vetted for release like the first one was prior to signing on with “Cold Justice.”

In the wake of the Bowers investigation, Daniels is facing scrutiny from the FBI for the way the county accessed his personal Dropbox folder. Bowers personally paid for the Dropbox account and had used it for years — almost exclusively for personal file storage. He had also stored a digital version of one of the cold case files on it and connected it to his work email account.

The county IT director, at Daniels’ direction, used the “forgot password” link to have a new password sent to Bowers’ work email, according to her testimony at the disciplinary hearing. She then accessed that email account to change the password — in an attempt to lock out Bowers — and removed the access rights “Cold Justice” staffers had to the digital case file.

Believing that intrusion was illegal, Bowers filed a complaint with the Medford Police Department that Chief Bryan Carey then turned over to the FBI. Carey said the federal agency “took the case” in January or February.

The Bowers investigation has run up a tab of at least $50,000 so far, although an insurance policy means county taxpayers are responsible for only about $20,000, according to county records. That does not include the more than $10,000 paid to Bowers while on leave since February.